The current art of fabricating large, portable display system frames typically involves two methods: nut-and-bolt assembly, and portable fabricating systems. Nut-and-bolt systems can be labor-intensive and inconvenient for use in constructing temporary, portable displays, as there are many separate parts which must be assembled and disassembled, and which may be easily lost. Portable fabricating systems on the other hand were developed specifically to construct portable and temporary frameworks. They commonly employ quick connection mechanisms that are quicker and easier to use and involve fewer parts than nut-and-bolt systems. However, conventional quick-connection mechanisms are typically designed to engage frame members having a channel, commonly called a “system groove,” that runs the length of one or more of its exterior faces. This system groove allows a “lock” connector located in the end of a perpendicular opposing member to grab the inside edge of the system groove with small hardened steel flanges.
As the popularity of portable display structures has increased, so has the use of such products in larger framing applications. Applications requiring structure sizes from 20 feet wide by 20 feet long by 10 feet high to up to 100 feet in length and 30 feet in height are now more common. Snap frame systems typically have an inherent “looseness” at every joint, and are therefore not appropriate for use in applications requiring high strength.
With conventional lock connector systems, the user typically inserts small flanges into small grooves and blindly engages the flanges. Because the user generally does not see the flanges of the lock connector engaging the respective groove, they cannot visually ensure that the flanges are seated properly. This is exacerbated when assembling large frames, as the girth, weight, and length of the members being attached to one another are so large that the user is even more likely to have difficulty aligning the small connector flanges into small grooves in the adjacent frame member. Such system groove products were designed to construct relatively small temporary frameworks, such as those used at indoor tradeshows and the like.
Further, conventional system groove-engaging connection systems frequently place gravitational loads onto the lock flanges in a direction parallel to the system groove. Thus, any failure of the lock/groove interface, due to user error in engaging the lock or due to improper alignment, may result in the lock flanges (and the respective frame member) sliding down the associated groove or falling out of the groove entirely.
What is needed is a quick-release frame connection system which is suited for the rapid assembly and disassembly of large, heavy display and event frameworks, is simpler to use than conventional quick connector systems, is more cost effective, and achieves these benefits while increasing overall safety.